Level 5

Whether they strolled through a peaceful environment or a monster-ridden place filled to the brim with mortal danger, as long as Ais was with him, Isaac felt noticeably happier than he usually would be. Ever since she had joined him for the evening, he had felt more at ease, and his research flowed more smoothly. Or, well, maybe all of these things were just imaginary, and there really hadn't been any significant difference in his performance. It honestly didn't matter to him.

When Ais noticed him using a khopesh to slay his opponents, a slight but smug smile stole itself on her lips. Her expression clearly told Isaac "I told you so". This made him a little bit embarrassed, but he didn't attempt to talk his way out of his slight slip-up. Aside from a few chuckles, Ais didn't rub any salt into his wounds, so he quickly managed to refocus on his dungeon exploration.

Because the 50th floor was a safety point, the two of them rushed past it without a pause. Due to there barely being any monsters on this floor, it took them only twenty minutes or so to spot a staircase leading further down, which they then descended.

The 51st floor was where Isaac would have the opportunity to expand his knowledge once again. He hadn't actually made it here during the expedition, but because Ais was with him, he quickly got to know about all the species that he needed to 'examine'. Well, one of them, the Cadmus, seemed to refuse to spawn for the moment, so that one could be struck from the list. Still, there were five other monster species remaining that could be encountered at the beginning of the Dragon Vase.

As quite so often, the weakest and also the most numerous ones were the first to get a taste of Isaac's expert scientific research. They were called Black Rhinos, and looked just like slightly bigger rhinoceroses with black and tough skin. In a way, they could be considered to be monster-versions of regular animals from Isaac's old world. What set them apart, however, was that the Black Rhinos could stand on their hind legs and showcase movements akin to a humanoid. They were brute strength type fighters which didn't have many hidden cards to play, which was why the research on them finished quickly and without a hitch. Usually, they would roam in groups ranging all the way from five to more than a hundred individuals. Amongst their stats, both Strength and Endurance could reach up to I-50 / 21,050, while the rest weren't anything spectacular.

Between the monsters roaming the 49th floor and those encountered here on the 51st, there was a massive gap of close to 5,000 Level 1 stat points. This was because any monster encountered from this point forward would, at the very least, have reached Level 5. For regular adventurers, it would be a massive undertaking to bridge this gap, but it wouldn't be impossible by any means. Once some of the stronger adventurers reached Level 5, their stats would be around 18,000 if converted to Level 1 stats, so they 'only' needed to slay these Level 5 monsters in a party for a couple of months until they would be capable of facing them on their own.

Well, for Isaac, no gap like this existed. Only the Cadmus, the one monster that he couldn't fight at the moment, did surpass his current stats, and that was only by a 'small' difference of about 4,000 - if converted to Level 1 stats, of course. As for every other monster that he could encounter here, he could still rely on the tried and true method of restricting himself to the same stats for a more comprehensive and and at least slightly challenging research experience.

After Isaac had slain the first Level 5 monster, he was almost drowned in the enormous amount of excelia that he gained. At the very least, he wouldn't have to waste any time on slaying monsters that didn't help him grow stronger, for now, which was quite pleasant to say the least. He would surely arrive at a point like that again relatively soon, but for now, he could enjoy the status quo.

Next in line were the Deformis Spiders. They could grow to a size of about three or so meters, which would easily give any arachnophobes a heart attack. Thankfully, Isaac didn't fall into that category. While he agreed that arachnids looked quite disgusting, they weren't too different from other monsters in his eyes.

The spiders' bodies were mostly purple, with a few red spots dotted all over them, the same colour as their eyes. Usually, they would ambush their prey from hidden corners in the dark labyrinth that was the 51st floor. Sadly, not only could Isaac clearly see their webs, even their hidden bodies were plainly visible to him. The role of the ambusher and the ambushee had been reversed. With that, the spiders' only advantage, their Agility which could reach up to H-150 / 22,650, wasn't of any help at all. The pained screeches of suffering and dying arachnids echoed through the otherwise mostly silent halls.

The next monster species that had the 'pleasure' of being on Isaac's list were the Venom Scorpions. They were honestly amongst the most disappointing new additions, as they couldn't even compare to the Sand Scorpions in terms of originality - this time, they were simply scaled-up versions of the most generic scorpions from Isaac's past world. Yes, their poison would quickly kill most adventurers that didn't have Abnormal Resistance at a decent grade, but they couldn't even scratch Isaac in their wildest dreams, so why even bother? Their Agility and Magic reached up to G-200 / 23,450, which wasn't too bad, but they evoked nothing but a disappointed sigh from Isaac once he was done with them.

Silver Worms - the name for this monster species really was quite unflattering. They presented Isaac with a positive surprise, however. After all, they weren't actually worms, but snakes. Whoever had named them really had to have had a vendetta of some kind against them, after all, they looked to be considerably regal creatures. Their silver scales looked breathtaking in this barely-lit environment, and even aesthetically, they were amongst the most beautiful snakes that Isaac had seen so far. Really, who had thought that calling them 'Silver Worms' was a good idea!? He couldn't figure it out. Thankfully, he wasn't here to find out which fool had had such a plainly terrible naming sense.

The not-actually-worms mostly acted as distractions for the other monster species on these floors. After all, they stuck out a lot, so most adventurers would have their eyes glued on them, which would lead them to a quick death, or at least quite a bit of pain. But even on their own, the Silver Worms weren't all too easy to deal with. They excelled in all stats but Magic, and could reach up to F-300 / 25,050, which was more than enough to require an experienced Level 5 adventurer to take care of them.

Against Isaac, their tactics were useless, but their Drop Items were anything but. These silver-coloured scales were more than sufficient to create outstanding armour from, and they would surely fetch a high price on the market. After all, they were amongst the best Drop Items to make metal-based armour from that had been discovered so far.

Here on the 51st floor, Isaac could only encounter one more new monster species, the Thunder Snakes. They were almost ten meters long and yellowish-golden in colour. Contrary to the Silver Worms, their scales weren't all that tough, but they didn't need to be. After all, their main mode of attack was to spew bolts of electricity at their targets. If one even so much as touched their actual bodies, one would also be subjected to a relatively weaker electric shock. Then, once the prey was paralyzed or otherwise out of commission, the Thunder Snakes could crush them with their strong bodies easily. Both their Magic and Strength reached up to F-350 / 25,850. Regular adventurers took care of them with ranged attacks, but even then, the Thunder Snakes' bolts were still a nuisance to deal with that sometimes couldn't be evaded.

This latter part wasn't a problem for Isaac. Simply by observing their heads' movements closely, he would always know where they would aim at next, so he could easily dodge. Another option which he had available to deal with this was to use his Eyes of Hermes to detect the mana gathering within their throats. Well, he still did this, but it wasn't even necessary.

For himself, killing these snakes wasn't difficult. He didn't even need to use his bow, he only needed to disrupt the mana in the snakes' scales right before he was about to hit them with his khopesh. That way, he wouldn't be touched by the electric currents at all. Still, this wouldn't work for regular adventurers. As he was always thinking about strategies which his students could employ as well, he quickly came up with a few possible solutions.

First of all and most obviously, they could use ranged attacks, whether they be Magic, bows, crossbows… heck, even slingshots could work. Aside from these, there were two 'relatively simple' methods that relied on close combat. The easiest of these would be to use weapons made out of non-conductive materials, and to avoid direct bodily contact with the scales. This would only require custom weapons that needed to be prepared specifically for facing this monster species. The harder-to-achieve method would be for the students to create weapons out of mana itself, and to use those to attack. But this required quite the high level of proficiency in Mana Cultivation…

'Custom weapons it is.'

With a small nod to himself, Isaac collected a magic stone from a cruelly chopped-up Thunder Snake's remains before continuing onwards.

When he made it to the 52nd floor, he soon got confronted with the Valgang Dragons' breath attacks, which made it all the way here from the 58th floor. This phenomenon caused him to raise an eyebrow, and he started to pay far closer attention to his environment than usual. Still, he couldn't figure out anything special about it at all. Nothing was different from any previous floors that he had stepped in, at least not in any major way that stuck out.

Suddenly, he sidestepped another relatively weakened breath attack and stopped in his tracks momentarily.

'Wait, maybe that's it. There really is no difference at all. I shouldn't be looking for a change, but should closely examine everything that hasn't changed instead.'

With that thought in mind, he made use of all of his senses yet again, but only once he used his mana to sense the insides of the dungeon's walls, ground and ceiling did he finally find what he had been looking for. In fact, he had previously taken note of this particular phenomenon, but it never seemed to have any effect on anything else at all, so he had pushed it to the back of his mind - to the shelf that was filled to the brim with questions that he still hadn't found the exact answers to, at least for now.

In regular intervals, about every half a second, an extremely weak signal was sent through the mana that was omnipresent in the dungeon's structure. This pulse didn't extend into the air, only into the aforementioned walls, ceiling and ground. It also ran along the exposed parts of these, and whenever it encountered an obstacle that shouldn't be present, this information would be sent back to whatever sent out these pulses in the first place. It could be likened to echo location, in a way… more or less. There were many differences, and it wasn't even the polar opposite, but it worked relying on some of the same principles.

Some time after the information had been obtained, a Valgang Dragon's breath attack would target the spot which had been detected earlier, leading to the illusion that the dragons could somehow perceive adventurers, even from this far away. What was far more likely to be the case was that they simply got supplied with the information that the dungeon had obtained and made use of that.

To make sure that it really was this mana pulse that caused the breath attacks to be sent his way, Isaac used his Anemoi Steps to move in the air for a while, and no more attacks appeared by his side. Only Ais was targeted by the dragons.

A slight smirk played across Isaac's lips, then he nodded and stopped using his Anemoi Steps. It would be a waste of mana to stay in that state any longer, and he also didn't need to rely on this Magic in the first place. Now that he had figured out the exact intervals, he would basically always know where and when the next breath attack was going to hit. Heck, even regular adventurers had figured out that much after a couple of months of coming to these floors. They just didn't know the exact reasons for the phenomenon, while he now had a pretty good idea of what was behind it, at the very least.

Just to be safe, Isaac devoted a bit of his focus to observe the mana pulse with his Eyes of Hermes - if it changed in any way, then that could mess up his predictions of the breath attacks. But even if they hit him, they wouldn't be able to harm him too much. Also, he still had a sphere whose diameter was multiple kilometers all around him, which he observed by using his mana - courtesy of, yet again, the Eyes of Hermes. He could evade the dragon breaths by just relying on that information alone, with his eyes closed. Still, it never hurt to be extra careful.

On the 56th floor, finally, one other monster species appeared. Ill Wyverns weren't actually, like the name implied, sick members of a lesser dragon species, not at all. Their blueish purple coloured scales just caused them to look a little sickly, so whoever had had the opportunity of naming them went with this name. There was no doubt in Isaac's mind that this was the same person that had been responsible for the travesty that was the name 'Silver Worms'.

That aside, Ill Wyverns were actually rather unusual compared to any other dragon species that Isaac had seen in the dungeon so far. Most of the others had been rather massive in size, but the Ill Wyverns were only about three meters long, if their tails were included. They were rather tiny. They also didn't attack their opponents directly, but only buzzed around in some of the bigger rooms' airspace and shot fireballs from a distance. Their Agility and Magic reached up to E-450 / 27,450, but all of their other stats were abysmal - a single hit from any Level 5 adventurer would obliterate them. Here on the 56th floor, where they still didn't have much room to maneuver, they were only a slight headache, but on the 58th floor, which was yet again a nigh endlessly massive, singular room, they were akin to a nightmare. On the 56th and 57th floors, they only appeared in groups of less than twenty, but on the 58th one - although they weren't the main monster species there - well, there was no upper limit to their group size.

Aside from not being a labyrinth anymore, the 58th floor only differed from the 51st to 57th ones in one way - it was quite hot there, and occasionally, even lava lakes could be found. They were quite a bit rarer than in the Infernal City, however. The 58th floor's walls, its ground and its ceiling were still made from graphite, just like the rest of the Dragon Vase. It had taken Isaac close to five hours to make his way here, and it was now close to 10 p.m..

Finally, the last addition to this thematic zone's monster species list could be found, the Valgang Dragons. These red, gigantic dragons even posed a challenge to the strongest of Level 5 adventurers as absolutely all of their stats reached up to D-500 / 28,250. Coupled with the huge numbers of Ill Wyverns attacking from the skies, adventurers would be bathed in breath attacks and fireballs if they weren't good at dodging or defending themselves.

To Isaac, this didn't pose a challenge. He calmly walked through the seemingly all-encompassing net of fiery attacks and didn't even get grazed. Sometimes, he would stop in place for a fraction of a second, then he would suddenly accelerate again. It felt like he was dancing to a rhythm that only he himself could perceive. Using his observational skills and the Eyes of Hermes Magic, the world that he was moving in, the one akin to a chessboard, appeared even clearer in the eyes of Ais, the only observer. No matter how many times that she saw it, it still fascinated her. She usually dealt with this by using Ariel and surrounding herself in protective gales of Wind, taking everything head on, but Isaac's method was far more graceful. That aside, it also saved a lot of mana.

Regarding the Valgang Dragons, even though Isaac paid particular attention to them, he couldn't find any perceivable connection between them and the dungeon. Not even their life force was connected to the dungeon, like he had observed with the Xenos. In conclusion, whatever way that the dragons got their information, it couldn't be via mana or life force, else he would have noticed it.

As he had no way to obtain more information regarding this for now, he would just have to figure it out at a later date. So, with a slight shrug of his shoulders, Isaac unceremoniously ended his research on the first Valgang Dragon specimen. Many other dragons were currently injured to various degrees as well, but this one had served its purpose.

[ Post-update Magic stat has reached the maximum. No further Magic-related excelia can be gained until your Level increases. ]

Seeing that it was finally time, a beaming smile spread across Isaac's face, but he didn't excitedly rush his research. Even though he kept the same pace, only about five minutes later, the Valgang Dragons had absolutely no more secrets to hide from him - aside from how exactly their minds were connected to the dungeon, as mentioned before. With nothing holding him back anymore, many more dragons 'peacefully passed away'.

[ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.

Quest 'Reach the Level 4 stat limit.' completed. 4000 AP rewarded. ]

Now that he didn't need to bother with restricting his stats any longer, Isaac quickly dealt with a huge number of the surrounding monsters, then he turned to look at Ais in the distance.

"Can you protect me for a moment or two? I'll rank up."

A nod and a doting smile later, Ais arrived at his side and shrouded the two of them in her Ariel Magic, keeping every assaulting Level 5 monster at bay. She didn't even need to pay particular attention to this, because these monsters' stats… they were simply too low. Ever since she had become a goddess, even without using any of her Skills and Magics, some of her stats still exceeded 100,000 - these monsters wouldn't even be capable of harming her if she stood still and relinquished all resistance.

Isaac shot Ais a thankful gaze, then he focused on his Falna and initiated the update process, following which he ranked himself up to Level 5. Of course, he didn't forget to select Veteran Hunter from amongst all of the Development Abilities that he could choose from.

Because the increase in stats would be considerably major again this time, he wanted to make doubly sure that nothing would go awry with his Divine Energy, although he was certain that he wouldn't mess up. Still, making doubly, nay, triply sure was the wisest choice here. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to ask for Ais' protection.

While his mortal vessel proceeded to vastly exceed its limits yet again and waves of pleasant and refreshing power welled up inside of him, Isaac kept a clear head and took a look at his updated Status.

[ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

[ Familia: Loki Familia ]

[ Affiliation: None ]

[ Race: God ]

[ Divinity: None ]

[ Arcanum: None ]

[ Level: 4 -> 5 ]

[ Age: Unable to measure ]

[ Charisma: 34 ]

[ Divine Energy: 31547 -> 67601 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

[ Endurance: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

[ Dexterity: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

[ Agility: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

[ Magic: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

[ Magic ]

[ Anemoi Steps ]

[ Eyes of Hermes ]

[ Skills ]

[ Divine Being ]

[ Reverential Resonance ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Huntsman: F ]

[ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: F ]

[ Hunter: H ]

[ Experienced Hunter: I ]

[ Veteran Hunter: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Archer, Mage, Spirit Healing, Swordsman ]

-----

At the same time, the small figure of a blonde Pallum shot out from a staircase and arrived on the 50th floor.

Riveria and Gareth didn't really have a focus on Agility in their stats, so they were considerably slower than their Captain, Finn. Tiona, although she had only just ranked up to Level 6, was already about as fast as these two mentors of hers, so the three of them had decided to travel together. Although just Finn alone would be enough to deliver the message, should he be too late, a battle might have to be fought - in that case, the other three would be much needed reinforcements.

Finn himself didn't excel in his Magic stat as much as Riveria did, and he also lagged behind Gareth in terms of Endurance. Still, he was somewhat close on their heels in both. In all other stats, he had an unbridgeable lead over the other two Level 6 veterans. In all of the Loki Familia, the sum of his stats was the highest. Even now that Ais had ranked up to Level 6 and doubled her stats due to the Divine Being buff, she still wasn't able to catch up completely.

Usually, Finn would leave the fighting to others and focused on the strategy aspect of battles. This wasn't because he didn't excel at direct clashes, however. Rather, he rarely met any opponents that would warrant his personal interference in the battle. In all of Orario, only the publicly acknowledged strongest, Freya Familia's 'King', Ottar, could defeat Finn. Even then, it wouldn't be a short battle by any means, although Ottar had long ago reached Level 7. Just like Ais and many other outstanding adventurers, Finn had Skills and Magics to rely on to vastly boost his various stats, to ridiculous heights. He was an exceptionally tough nut to crack.

In just a little under five hours, he had made it all the way to the 50th floor from the surface, while the others still lagged behind and were only now entering the early 40s.

Suddenly, the rushing Pallum's expression drastically changed, but he didn't slow down in the slightest.

'The throbbing in my thumb has reduced markedly. Something has to have changed. But what could it be?'

It didn't take him long to come up with a plausible explanation - and one that was also the most likely.

'Has Isaac ranked up again? Good gods, his advancement speed simply boggles the mind!'

Even though he was inwardly rejoicing about this piece of news, Finn didn't dare to dally.

'Now matter what, there still is a hint of danger in the air. I don't think I need to worry about Ais' and Isaac's lives for now, but the situation should still be relatively threatening.'

He had to admit that a load had been taken off his mind, but because the two still weren't safely back home, what he had to do didn't change. He needed to warn them before the two could enter the 59th floor, and if that failed, he needed to come to their rescue.